Top iPhone Apps for Busy Teachers
I know there are tons of iPhone App lists on the web but I have put this one together to meet the needs of busy teachers who want to save time and effort and maybe make themself seem a little smarter next time a curly question comes their way in class. Hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear about your favourite apps and what you use them for.
Mobile Air Mouse: Do you use an Interactive whiteboard and have wireless keyboards and mice floating around the place that either don’t work or you have to actually sit in front of a computer to type something on your IWB. Download and install Mobile Air Mouse and you can use your iPhone to do everything on your IWB. Now I sit with my students and run a lesson. Media controls, Keyboard and Mouse. My all time most used app at school. Works through a wireless network and is pretty painless to set up. Check out the video below.
DropBox: I own a laptop, 2 desktop PC’s at home, have files on the network at school and now have some stuff on my iPhone. I was going crazy trying to keep track of it all. Drop box allows you to sync everything without any hassle at all to every PC you use both locally and in the cloud and now best of all you can access all of your files through your iPhone. Also you can create public folders for your students to access files from the web too. It’s free - Absolute Gold
Pi83 Graphing Calculator A simple calculator isn't enough for most math students once they hit high school, so having a graphing calculator handy is always welcome. And since Pi83 Graphing Calculator, which mimics Texas Instruments' Ti-83 graphing calculator, costs just 99 cents. Never be outsmarted by your students again.
Evernote - This iPhone app will help you capture video and audio with your phone and sync it to other devices. View web site clips take class notes and memos, photographs of class activities. File anything and pull it up on your PC or share it with your kids. The ultimate Forget me not tool. And believe me teachers have a lot to remember.
Quick Voice iP – I’ll throw this one in with Evernote.This award-winning voice recorder can be used to record lectures, reminders and other voice messages. Recorded material can then be emailed directly from your iPhone.
WorldBook – This Day in History. This interactive calendar is powered by World Book Encyclopedia and features historical information for each day of the year. Struggling for a lesson idea today or just need to fill in 10 minutes with some great facts from history.
Cram Cram is designed specifically to help students study for a big test. The app allows them to create multiple-choice quizzes and study guides with a flash-card-like system. The app even randomizes the answers to ensure students aren't memorizing a particular option. Best of all for teachers it has a massive bank of online tests you can access and administer. Don’t sit up all night planning or correcting a test again.
History: Maps of the World One of the most important tools any student can use is a historical map of the world to help them in both geography and history classes. That's where History: Maps of the World comes in.
After downloading the free app, users can view maps of all the continents at different points throughout history. The app features up-to-date maps showing current boundaries. But where it provides the most value is in its historical maps, which display boundaries and important places from periods throughout history. It's a great way to help students increase their effectiveness in geography and history class and a great discussion point in geography lessons.
Flash-Me - This educational iPhone App lets you use Cramberry (the amazing online flashcard maker) on your iPhone. With Flash-Me, you can create, edit and study your flash cards on your iPhone. These can be later shared with students in class.
Mathematical Formulas Mathematical Formulas is a must-see app for any math student. It not only helps users gain access to hard-to-remember formulas quickly, but it might also prove to be a handy studying tool.
Like me if you are not Rainman and your students hit you with something from left field in maths this is a great tool to get you out of what can be an embarrassing spot.
Spell Check. I am great spaller but this is a great tool to let your students use next time they hit a word that confuses them. Type in a word to see if you spelled it correctly and get suggestions for correct spellings. This app also doubles as a dictionary. Two for the price of none.
BBC World News – Between the BBC World News App, Australia’s ABC App and the United States NY times App you have access to three of the world’s best news services for quick facts, updates and when you need to search the archives in a hurry.
EleMints. Try out this interactive periodic table that allows you to easily learn about all the elements.
Friday, January 15, 2010 at 10:41AM
Reader Comments (19)
Another great tool for teachers using iPhone/iPod touch is an app that allows you to choose students from your class at random. Created by a teacher and simple enough for in-class use. http://awzone.com/hotseat
Hi, Kevin.
Thanks for sharing this list. These are the kinds of lists that really help develop a rationale for mobile devices in schools. I forwarded several of these to some teachers in my district. Thanks again!
Chris
Thank Chris I hope they get some use of out of it
I'd have to add GradePad to the list ... let's me do rubric-based grading as I walk around the room, uploads to Excel spreadsheet.
Thanks for that one Cal I'll check it out today
Thanks for information! http://www.google.com
I enjoyed this post because I'm a huge fan of implementing iPhone applications into the classroom to become not only effective teachers, but effective students! I used an application in a class called ResponseWare, paired with Turning Technologies software that allowed us students to interact with our instructor's PowerPoint lectures. It really made the experience more engaging and was fun to see the results!
Hi Kevin,
Great post! I just made a comment on your other post about iPhone apps, but then came across this newer post so I thought I might share the info here too:
I'm an educator and recently created my first iPhone app -- it's really simple, but it saves teachers a lot of time grading papers. It's called Teacher Calculator, and I just thought I'd pass along the info in case anyone is interested in checking it out (it's just a buck):
Teacher Calculator website with more info: http://teachercalculator.wordpress.com
Direct link to app on iTunes: http://itunes.com/app/TeacherCalculator
If you have any feedback on how to make it even more useful, I'd love to hear it!
Best regards,
-- Lewis
Thanks for the effort I suppose. This is a pathetic list of apps. If I wanted the app stores top 10 regurgitated back to me why wouldn't I just go to the source? I was hoping for innovation but I can see you are merely another lackey who thinks his iPhone makes him a web 2.0 teacher and " simple, straight to the point and relevant" You are from that. Your 'Edgalaxy' is very small indeed.
Hoping you'll try harder
~dean
No worries Dean. Maybe if I work really hard in life then I might just turn out to be as half as decent as bloke as your are.
What a tool mate, you better go back to trawling the web for teaching tools to hack all hours of the day. I'll just take my masters degree in I.T Education, highly successful blog and job and get on with my life - Good luck with yours.
There is constructive criticism Dean and then there are wankers. You are clearly the latter.
Kev
Great post! I just made a comment on your other post about iPhone apps, but then came across this newer post so I thought I might share the info here too:
Spelling Games for Kids
Hi Kevin,
I am a new iPad user and will get an iPhone in the next few days. I am looking for a teacher tool that will allow me to set up my schedule. I teach an 8 block day with a 9-day rotating schedule. Another teacher suggested Bento which I bought, but am not having a results that I need. Any suggestions.
Thank you for your blog, I have found it very helpful.
Suz
Hi Kevin,
I am a new iPad user and will get an iPhone in the next few days. I am looking for a teacher tool that will allow me to set up my schedule. I teach an 8 block day with a 9-day rotating schedule. Another teacher suggested Bento which I bought, but am not having a results that I need. Any suggestions.
Thank you for your blog, I have found it very helpful.
Suz
I'll do some homework today and get back to you ASAP Suz
I've just finished and released an iPhone app for organizing lessons. It tracks attendance, materials, cash payments, notes and homework. It's probably most suited to private teachers or instructors rather than teachers in an academic setting.
Here's the website
http://www.miyabi-english.com/TeachNotes
Here's the iTunes page
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/teachnotes/id399364209?mt=8
hey guy!
you might be interested on teach mate an iphone/ipod app that records class attendance and scores. You can visit to www.uipluscode.com/teachmate for more info. Thanks
Great list Kevin! I used Air Mouse a lot in my classroom!
Like several other teachers I have heard from I spent hours looking for apps to help me in my middle school classroom. I couldn't find the apps I wanted so I worked with another teacher I know and we created our own app. We hope to get a few more built this summer. We would love for you to check out Pick Me! in the app store:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pick-me/id444045099?mt=8&ls=1
Thanks,
Christopher
the list awesome! I can propose my list, which is really short: thttp://www.totalapps.net/general/5-top-iphone-apps-for-teachers/
I've been searching for ages looking for an app to help with lesson planning. There's new one out for the iphone: "Teach Quick" brilliant for lesson starters and lesson plenaries. Good one for the list i think